June 7: From Illiterate to Best-Selling Author

Maine lobsterman Jim Henry didn’t learn to read until he was 91, but that didn’t stop him from pursuing an even higher goal.  The book he wrote himself, In a Fisherman’s Language, is on its second printing.  A collection of stories about his life, it has attracted interest from as far away as Germany and Greece, and caught the eye of a New York film producer.

Henry’s father made him quit school when he was in the third grade so he could go to work.  Although he had an accomplished and varied career, he was able to hide his illiteracy from friends and relatives over the years.

Then Henry heard George Dawson’s story.  The grandson of a slave, the 98-year-old Dawson earned a high school diploma by learning to read and write.  Henry was inspired and began  working with a literacy volunteer and reading first-grade books.

Today, at age 98, Henry is getting another education in the publishing world as he works to keep up with demand for the book he wrote himself.

You’re never too old to try something new.

Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. (Ex. 7:7)

Lord, may I never be too old to serve You.